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Three militants, who
tried to storm an Army base close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar
sector of Kupwara district, were killed in a six-hour-long gunfight. A civilian
working at the camp was also killed while two Army men, including an officer, were
injured in the gunfight.

This was the second
unsuccessful attempt by militants to storm an Army base in Tangdhar area this
year. Srinagar-based defence spokesman Lt Col NN Joshi said a search operation
was under way in the area.

Defence sources said
a group of heavily armed militants lobbed grenades and opened fire at a 3/1 GR
battalion at Kulsuri Ridge in Tangdhar sector, around 135 km from here, around
7 am today. They made an unsuccessful attempt to sneak into the camp.

“The group probably entered from
the Sanjoi side of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) last night. The LoC is
only 5 km from the encounter site. Initial indications suggest it was a
pre-planned attack,” a Defence official said.

“A civilian employee of the
Military Engineering Service (MES) contractor and a Junior Commissioner Officer
were injured,” sources said. The civilian, identified as 22-year-old Tanweer
Ahmed, succumbed to his injuries later. The JCO was taken to the Kupwara
military hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.

An oil dump situated there
caught fire during the exchange of fire and two vehicles of the Army and a hut
were damaged.

The Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of
the Army and elite commandos were rushed to the area to take on the militants.
A Deputy Commander of 104 Brigade, a Colonel-rank officer, led from the front
and had a narrow escape during the gunfight. “A bullet grazed his ear, causing
a minor injury. After being treated, he again led the operation,” sources said.

The militants later tried to take
shelter in residential houses near the camp. “Three militants were killed
during the operation and three assault rifles were seized from their
possession,” they said. Combing continued in the area to ensure that no
militant was hiding there.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has
claimed responsibility for the attack. A caller who identified himself as
spokesperson of the outfit Muhammad Hasan Shah told a Srinagar-based news
agency that the militants of the group stormed the camp. The militants
inflicted heavy damage on the forces, he claimed.

On May 31 this year, four
militants were killed after they crossed the LoC and were intercepted by
soldiers near Bakhiyan village, close to the Army’s 104 Infantry Brigade
headquarters.

The Chinese navy has
recently completed a series of ‘realistic confrontation training exercises’ in
the South China Sea (SCS) which could set the tone for renewed tension in the
disputed waters.

The People’s
Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fielded a new type of ‘submarine’. However, it is
not clear if the vessel was one of the new Type 94 Jin-class nuclear
submarines. Multi-type of destroyers and frigates carrying anti-submarine
helicopters were part of the exercise.

Sources said the
vessel was a submarine submersible ballistic nuclear (SSBN)—- in other terms, a
nuclear-powered sub capable of carrying nuclear missiles. This was second such
exercise within weeks.

The Jammu and
Kashmir Police have invoked charges of abduction, murder and disappearance of
evidence against a brigadier-level officer of the Army, accused of the
custodial death of a chemist from the Rawalpora locality of Srinagar in 2002.

In its status
report, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police has told the Jammu and
Kashmir High Court that the investigation into the 14-year-old case had been
completed and the Central government nod for prosecution of accused Brigadier
Kishore Malhotra was awaited.

Brigadier Malhotra
was a Major in the 35 Rashtriya Rifles in 2002 when the incident happened.

The officer was
subjected to four days of sustained ‘custodial interrogation’ by the SIT
between October 6 and 9 this year, the report accessed by The Tribune has
further revealed.

On November 23, a
single bench of the High Court, while hearing a petition in the case, asked the
police to file the latest status report about the investigation by Tuesday and
‘also report that the charge sheet has been filed’.

Manzoor Ahmad Dar, a
resident of Rawalpora locality on the outskirts of Srinagar, was arrested by
the Army on January 19, 2002. His wife Jana, in her testimonies before the
courts, has maintained that an Army contingent led by Kishore Malhotra, then a
Major with the 35 Rashtriya Rifles, had raided their house in the dead of the
night.

Later, a judicial
inquiry by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Budgam, had also ‘substantiated’ that
Manzoor was ‘picked up by armed forces personnel of the 35 Rashtriya Riffles during
the intervening night of 18/19 January 2002’.

“The custodial disappearance has
occurred near about 14 years ago, which clearly indicates that the disappeared
person could have died in custody of the 35 RR and accordingly, Section 302 of
the RPC (murder) is invoked,” the SIT submitted in its status report, adding
that offence under Section 364 (abduction) is already established against the
accused Army officer.

“On the direction of the apex
court and the High Court of J&K, accused Major Kishore Malhotra, now
Brigadier, appeared before the SIT on October 6, 7, 8 and 9, 2015. During
custodial questioning, the accused did not admit to the custody of the victim,
nor lead to the recovery of the body (of Manzoor). Accordingly, offence under
201 of the RPC is invoked,” it added.

Stating that since direction of
the Supreme Court was not to arrest the accused Brigadier during questioning,
the SIT has further told the High Court that the “investigation of the case
stands closed and charges under Section 364 (abduction), 302 (murder) and 201
(disappearance of evidence) of the RPC invoked.”

It added that the case file
along with the records had been sent to the government for accord of sanction
to prosecute the accused Brigadier.

In a First, INS
Vikramaditya to Host Combined Commanders' Conference Next Month

New Delhi:The Combined Commanders' Conference of the
three services will be held next month onboard India's latest aircraft carrier
INS Vikramaditya in Kochi, which will the first venue outside the national
capital to host the crucial defence meet.

The move came after
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address at the Combined Commanders'
Conference in Delhi last October, suggested that the armed forces could
organize such conferences on ships, or in forward area cantonments or
air-bases, instead of only in New Delhi.

Though the
conference was originally scheduled to be held in October, it was postponed due
to the Bihar elections.

Besides the Prime
Minister, the conference will be attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
and other senior members of the Cabinet.

The Combined
Commanders' Conference, also known as the Unified Commanders' Conference, is
crucial as national defence policy, doctrine and operational challenges are
discussed in detail.

Exhorting the armed
forces to be prepared for a "future where security challenges will be less
predictable...threats may be known, but the enemy may be invisible," PM
Modi had said last time "full-scale wars may become rare, but force will
remain an instrument of deterrence and influencing behaviour, and the duration
of conflicts will be shorter".

Three militants were
killed when they tried to storm a camp of 3/1 Gorkha Rifles at the border town
of Tanghdar in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday. A civilian
injured in the attack later succumbed to his injuries.

The Army’s Para
Commandos neutralised the militants who were part of a fidayeen squad, said
officials. Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the
attack. A spokesman of the outfit said the militants had caused “heavy damage”
to the Army.

Defence spokesman Lt
Col N N Joshi said: “The searches are still on. Three AK rifles were recovered
from the possession of slain militants.’’ He said the militants couldn’t sneak
inside the camp, but fired some grenades that caused fire in the part of the
camp where oil was stored.

Five months ago, the
Army killed four armed militants in the town that is otherwise considered free
of militancy due to large presence of Army personnel on account of its
proximity to the LoC. Sources said Wednesday’s attack left the army worried as
militants had managed to come close to the camp.

Officials said that
around 6 am, three heavily armed militants tried to enter the camp located in
the main Tanghdar town. They attacked an army officer and a civilian employee
of Army’s Military Engineering Service who were in the camp’s generator room.
Both were evacuated to hospital, where 22-year-old Tanveer Ahmad, a resident of
Tanghdar, succumbed to his injuries. The injured Junior Commissioned Officer is
undergoing treatment at the Army hospital at Dragmulla Kupwara.

Sources said the
militants approached the camp from the rear side, placed some IEDs near the
camp and fired grenades towards the oil depot that caused a fire in the camp.
Some barracks and vehicles were damaged in the fire. The fire, officials said,
was later brought under control.

The Army’s Quick
Action Team responded swiftly and engaged the militants who took cover in the
nearby Darshik forests. Para Commandos were called and the militants were
killed after an eight-hour gunfight.

Officials said it
was possible that the militants had crossed the LoC through the Kalsuri range
and then approached the camp from its rear side.

A senior Army
officer said Wednesday’s attack was an attempt to replicate last year’s attack
at Mohura in Uri near the LoC when militants attacked an artillery base killing
eight soldiers, including an officer, and three policemen. All the six
militants were killed in that attack.